Teen Substance Abuse Rates Higher With ADHD

A new study on ADHD

Teen Substance Abuse Rates Higher With ADHD

A new study shows substance abuse rates higher in teenagers with attention
deficit/ hyperactivity disorder. The results, published in the Journal of the
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, revealed high substance abuse and cigarette use rates by adolescents with ADHD histories relative to those without.

Researchers from the University of Pittsburg School of Medicine and six other health centers across the United States have also found that, contrary to previous findings, current medications for ADHD do not counter the risk for substance abuse and substance use disorder among teenagers. This study is the first to examine teenage substance abuse and treatment for ADHD in a large, multi-site sample. It also is the first to recognize that increased use of cigarettes in teenagers with ADHD histories commonly occurs with use of other substances such as alcohol and marijuana.

“This study underscores the significance of the substance abuse risk for both boys and girls with
childhood ADHD,” said Brooke Molina, PhD, professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of
Pittsburgh School of Medicine and lead author of the report, in a prepared media statement. “These findings also are the strongest test to date of the association between medication for ADHD and teenage substance abuse.”

Researchers studied nearly 600 children over an eight-year period from childhood through adolescence to test the hypothesis that children with ADHD have increased risk of substance use and abuse or dependence in adolescence. Molina and colleagues also examined substance abuse patterns, the effects of ADHD medications over time and the relationship between medication and substance use.

The findings showed:

• 35% of ADHD kids used one or more substances by age 15 compared to 20% without the diagnosis.

• More than three times (10%) of the ADHD kids met criteria for a substance abuse or dependence disorder, suffering psychological problems, as compared to 3% of the non-ADHD kids.

• By age 17, the ADHD group was almost twice as likely to have marijuana abuse or dependence issues, 13% versus 7% respectively.

• More than twice as many of the ADHD diagnosed children smoked at a 17% rate compared to 8% of non-ADHD teens.

Content

5.2 m children ages 3-17
ever diagnosed
with ADHD

12% boys diagnosed

4.7% girls diagnosed

Toxic Dad, ADHD Child

Up to 4% of the U.S. population
suffers from ADHD, which “is one of
the most common neurobehavioral
disorders of childhood,” according to
the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.

ADHD is usually first diagnosed
in childhood and often lasts into
adulthood, says the CDC. Children
with ADHD may have trouble paying
attention, controlling impulsive
behaviors (may act without thinking
about what the result will be) or
exhibit overactivity.

It is normal for children to have
trouble focusing and behaving at one
time or another. However, children
with ADHD do not grow out of these
behaviors.

The symptoms continue and can
cause difficulty at school, at home or with friends. The children have a hard
time paying attention, daydream,
seem not to be able to listen and are
easily distracted from schoolwork.
They forget things and are in constant
motion, unable to stay seated,
squirming, fidgeting and talking out
of turn. But what’s worse is a lifetime
of bad decisions that ensue from
impulsivity, and all without help at the
beginning of the distraught teen’s life
when he really needed guidance and
knowledge from medicine, nutrition
and psychology.

Genetics play a clear role in
ADHD based on studies of twins
that show shared comorbidities, and
these studies go begging for further
molecular research.

But how environment influences
genetics is unknown. Environmental
influences could predate conception
by impacting the sperm. Male
sperm damaged by working with
toxic solvents at the machine shop
or substance abuse in the father’s
earlier years before he meets
mother’s genetic coupling could result in an inherited tendency or
susceptibility to ADHD.

Chemical Link

At the Nofer Institute of
Occupational Medicine in Lodz,
Poland, researchers reviewed the
current evidence on the impact
of pesticides, polychlorinated
biphenyls and select metals on
ADHD in children. The findings
indicate that children’s exposure to
organophosphate pesticides “may
cause symptoms consistent with
pervasive developmental disorder,
ADHD, or attention problems.
Exposures to organochlorine
pesticides and polychlorinated
biphenyl, flame retardants used in industrial transformers and
capacitors, were associated with
ADHD-like behaviors such as
alertness, quality of alert response
and cost of attention. The studies
provided evidence that blood lead
level below 10 μg/dl was associated
with ADHD or ADHD-related
symptoms.

But is there a cure? Do kids grow
out of ADHD? Looking at some of the
long-term research, the results are
mixed.

avoid drug dependency

Helping ADHD as early as possible
and using those early years to support
a child’s health without medication
could be essential to helping him
or her avoid dependency on both
prescription and street drugs during
the teen years.

One way parents are helping
ADHD children is to support
normal detoxification since we
know that environmental influences
including pesticides, PCBs and
lead contribute to or exacerbate
the condition. Throughout the last
decade, the ADHD community has
embraced influencing behavior
through nutrition. This has relied
on supplying the body with omega-3
fatty acids since an imbalance seems
to underlay this condition; natural
chelation agents to lower overall
body burden of pollutants; and
probiotics or beneficial bacteria that
can help digestion. Interestingly,
the gut could be a healing site, say
naturopaths. No true outside cure
exists. Not until we understand
the genetic component can science
influence outcome with drug or
medical therapy. So parents with
few choices turn to alternative
methods of helping children in the
quest to reduce their risk of needing
meds later.

Reversing IQ decline

An article by Holly Ruff, MD,
developmental psychologist and
professor of pediatrics at the Albert
Einstein College of Medicine in the
Bronx, New York, published in the
Journal of the American Medical
Association, reported on the reversal
of intelligence decline among children with high lead levels when steps are
taken to reduce their body burden.
Among one subgroup of the 154
children she studied, a drop of up to
30 micrograms in blood lead levels led
to a 10-point increase in intelligence
scores.

In another study, children with
clear-cut hyperactivity disorder and
moderately elevated lead levels were
treated with a lead-chelating agent
in a random allocation, double-blind
treatment regimen. “Statistically
significant and obvious behavioral
improvement was reported by three
separate evaluators (i.e., parent,
teacher and treating physician) of the
child, suggesting a toxic relationship
between moderately elevated lead
levels and hyperactivity,” note the
researchers.

An oral spray formula called PCA,
developed for children and adults, has
been used consistently in the childhood
neurobehavioral community for over a
decade for detoxification. The formula contains
novel micro-fermented peptides
from Lactobacillus bulgaricus,
Acidophilus salivarus, Streptococcus
thermophilus, fulvic acid, sea minerals
and other fermentation compounds.
This is done by allowing the bacteria
to interact with whole foods such
as blue-green algae, chlorella and
phytoplankton. Its most promising
compounds are novel peptides
produced by the artisanal process of
fermentation.

The formula utilizes the
glycoprotein and enzyme residues
from bacterial strains. These tiny
peptidyl glycans, like all peptides,
open up cell membranes by occupying
cell receptors.

Bacterial organisms have been
known to be capable of breaking
down and altering organic and
inorganic compounds. Bacteria also
breakdown heavy metals such as
mercury, which involves secretion
of the enzyme mercuric reductase.
Research in the area of toxic metal
transformation by Bacillus subtilis
has established the potential of
this organism for the remediation
of selenium- and chromium-contaminated
soil and water
environments. Probiotic species such as Lactobacillus also secrete
compounds meant to insure their
survival against toxic metals.

PCA is a nondrug approach to
natural health that works broadly
to support overall detoxification. It
doesn’t offer a cure to the condition
of ADHD but aims to help the
body in its normal detoxification
pathways to promote health. “In
the beginning, we thought of PCA as
simply a better method to support
the body’s normal ability to remove
heavy metals. We realize now we
have a universal product with many
facets,” says James Cole, Maxam
Labs CEO.

Many chemicals probably cause
ADHD. The idea is to get kids on a
natural routine as soon as possible.
And while there is no such thing as
a cure, parents have a number of
nutrition options that they should
explore in order to support their
child’s overall quality of life and
perhaps even help them to stay off
drugs.

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